TOBACCO ADS CORRUPT KIDS, SAYS STUDY
By Adnews Staff
Tobacco advertising is a stronger factor in children smoking than peer pressure, according to a study by cancer researchers at the University of California at San Diego. Another survey study by researchers at the same university has linked promotional campaigns to increases in young people smoking. It found that after the start of the Virginia Slims campaign of the 1960s and 70s by Philip Morris U.S.A., the number of 14 to 17-year-old girls who started smoking jumped to 8% from 4% over two years. The other study found that an interest in tobacco advertising and in promotional gifts from tobacco companies was a strong predictor of whether a child would smoke. While children with peers and family members who smoke are twice as likely to smoke as are those who don't, children who are receptive to advertising are up to four times as likely to start smoking as those who aren't receptive. Many youths who had never smoked had received promotional gifts from tobacco companies, or would like to receive them. The most popular item was a T-shirt with a logo of a cigarette brand on it. Seeing ads and handling the cigarette packs and promotional gifts lessens young peoples' resistance to smoking, says Dr. John Pierce, lead author of the two studies. The U.S. Tobacco Institute has countered with the argument that there is a lot of research that says peer pressure is the main reason children begin to smoke.